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Snowboarding 2018/Men's parallel giant slalom
Format The competition exists out of two separate phases. In the qualification phase, athletes run down both the red and the blue lane to ensure a certain ranking. The 16 competitors with the fastest combined time qualify for the knock-out phase. In this phase, competitors are matched based on ranking, and with a traditional knock-out system the winner is decided, with each winner advancing to the next round. The athlete who wins the final is the winner. Preview Thirty-two athletes qualified for the event, with Vic Wild as defending Olympic champion, although the biggest favorite for this edition was Swiss Nevin Galmarini, who won the silver medal in the previous edition, and who has had a great season thus far. His biggest rival in the season was world champion Andreas Prommegger, although he hadn't been as consistent as the former in the previous season. Other medal contenders were Alex Payer and Benjamin Karl, although Radoslav Yankov, Edwin Coratti and Andrey Sobolev were snowboarders to be reckoned with. Summary Qualification The sixteen athletes with the fastest combined time of two runs would go to the next round, and after two runs, Nevin Galmarini was sure of a place in the next round, almost 0.2 seconds faster than the bronze medalist of four years before, Zan Kosir. Local favorite Lee Sang-ho surprised with the third combined time, while Sylvain Dufour and Alexander Payer completed the top 5. Out of the medal contenders, Andrey Sobolev and Radoslav Yankov only finished 18th and 19th, causing the competition to lose two medal contenders early in the competition. Round 1 The first heat was set between fourth seed Sylvain Dufour and thirteenth seed Oskar Kwiatkowski. After a close race, in which Kwiatkowski was playing catchup the entire time, Dufour managed to stay ahead of his rival, albeit only with 0.1 seconds. The second heat, between fifth seed Alexander Payer and twelfth seed Edwin Coratti, was a bit less close. Against the odds of the qualification, Coratti was able to catch up on Payer, despite a slower start, winning by a third of a second over the latter. The third heat pitched eighth seed Roland Fischnaller against reigning Olympic champion and ninth seed Vic Wild. Despite a close start, Fischnaller was able to race away from Wild in the last part of the race, winning the race by almost a second. The last heat in the first half was between top seed Nevin Galmarini and sixteenth seed Tim Mastnak. Galmarini set up a small advantage in the start of the race, and despite increasing his lead in the middle part of the track, Mastnak caught up on some of this time in the last part, leaving only a 0.4 seconds deficit between the two. The fifth race was set between second seed Zan Kosir and fifteenth seed Kim San-kyum. Despite getting the local support, Kim had a slower start than Kosir, and he kept his disadvantage throughout the entire race, running up to over a second deficit. In the next round, Kosir would have to race against the winner of the race between seventh seed Stefan Baumeister and tenth seed Sebastian Kislinger. This was a close race, with the difference never been more than 0.25 seconds, finally deciding in favor of the German. The penultimate race was a Austrian rivalry between Benjamin Karl and Andreas Prommegger. Karl had the advantage at the start, increasing this to almost 0.7 seconds after two third of the race. At the finish line, this advantage had shrunk to almost 0.3 seconds, though still in favor of Karl. The last race was between local favorite and third seed Lee Sang-ho and fourteenth seed Dmitry Sarsembaev. With the local crowd behind him, Kim pulled away after the first part of the race, leaving more than half a second between the two riders. Quarterfinals The first quarterfinal was between fourth seed Sylvain Dufour and twelfth seed Erwin Coratti, and considering Dufour made some wide turns at the start of the race, Coratti had the faster start. The race stayed very close throughout the entire race, but Dufour managed to clinch the victory by only 0.2 seconds. The second quarterfinal was between first seed Nevin Galmarini and eighth seed Roland Fischnaller. Galmarini was the big favorite to win the gold medal and go through to the semifinals, and his start proved that, winning almost 0.5 seconds over Fischnaller. However, throughout the race, Fischnaller was able to fight back, losing only 0.06 seconds at the finish line. The third quarterfinal put second seed Zan Kosir against seventh seed Stefan Baumeister. Baumeister made some mistakes, going wide on several gates, losing over three seconds throughout the race. The last quarterfinal set local favorite Lee Sang-ho against sixth seed Benjamin Karl, and Lee was able to lead the race from the start, increasing the difference between the two riders gradually, leaving almost a second at the finish line. Semifinals The semifinals saw the four fastest snowboarders in the qualification round against each other, of which three were ensured to win a medal. With the first semifinal setting first seed Nevin Galmarini against fourth seed Sylvain Dufour, and Galmarini kept a steady lead of around 0.2 seconds over Dufour, until the latter missed an edge on the course, causing him to miss a gate, securing Galmarini of a place in the big final. The second semifinal saw second seed Zan Kosir against third seed Lee Sang-ho. Kosir having the faster start, Lee was able to catch up throughout the competition, catching up to Kosir right at the finish line, winning by only 0.01 seconds. Finals The small final between Zan Kosir and Sylvain Dufour and the winner would win the bronze medal, just as Kosir had done four years before. Kosir had a slightly faster start, Dufour was able to turn this around in the middle section, leading by 0.05 seconds. In the last part, Dufour hit a gate, losing a big amount of speed, leaving the win (and the bronze medal) to Kosir. The big final was set between favorite Nevin Galmarini and local hero Lee Sang-ho. Galmarini would be able to upgrade his silver medal of four years before to a gold one, while Lee could become the first Korean snowboarder to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. Galmarini had a good start, getting a half a second lead after the first part of the track, while Lee took half of this off after the middle (less steep) part. At the finish line, this lead was extended to almost half a second again, leaving the local favorite to the silver medal, while Galmarini became the Olympic champion. Results Snowboarding 2018/Men's parallel giant slalom/StartList|Startlist Snowboarding 2018/Men's parallel giant slalom/Qualification|Qualification Snowboarding 2018/Men's parallel giant slalom/Round1|Round 1 Snowboarding 2018/Men's parallel giant slalom/Quarterfinals|Quarterfinals Snowboarding 2018/Men's parallel giant slalom/Semifinals|Semifinals Snowboarding 2018/Men's parallel giant slalom/Finals|Finals Snowboarding 2018/Men's parallel giant slalom/Standings|Standings||true Category:Pyeongchang 2018 Events Category:Snowboarding 2018